Comments on: Midsummer’s Contrasting Characters http://www.bardblog.com/midsummers-contrasting-characters/ Quips, Quibbles, Queries, and Quarks from a Quirky Bardolator Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:07:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Willshill http://www.bardblog.com/midsummers-contrasting-characters/comment-page-1/#comment-591 Willshill Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:01:15 +0000 http://www.bardblog.com/?p=237#comment-591 I've been involved in productions of Midsommer a number of times on varying levels. Much related to other topics on the blog, the issues of punctuation and verse structure have figured in very strongly in my experience because of the rhyming couplets, and actors' tendencies to make them sing-song poetry. I believe that an effort to bring the characters alive and show their many different facets begins--as do so many things in Shakespeare--with a facility for handling the language and verse. Modern additions have 'emended' the structure so much that it becomes almost impossible for the very real conversational aspects of what's written to surface with any regularity. For the strong sense of Ensemble to work, the characters must actually be talking to one another--and to the audience, a very real member, in the aggregate, of that Ensemble. Enter the Folio. Opportunities for direct audience audience involvement present themselves at a staggering rate in this play. Character is discovered and development happens when the actor's (character's) "secrets" are shared this way--facets of character are simultaneously revealed (in rehearsal and performance) to the actor and audience, which can then be 'played' for all they're worth from then on, once the convention has been established. I've found that the act of 'breaking the glass' of 'the fourth wall' frees an actor and opens the door to a never-ending process of discovery that continues until closing night. I've also found that audiences are particularly taken with this device, and are immediately willing to 'play along'. Soliloquies grow wings when they're delivered as I believe they were intended, by Shakespeare, to be delivered. The practice, observed from the beginning, can establish a feeling that all of the actors are working together in a larger sense, to 'present' the play in a way that can only be termed 'novel' by today's standards. It also sets up some very amusing circumstances later on, when it all comes together in the play within the play. I’ve been involved in productions of Midsommer a number of times on varying levels. Much related to other topics on the blog, the issues of punctuation and verse structure have figured in very strongly in my experience because of the rhyming couplets, and actors’ tendencies to make them sing-song poetry. I believe that an effort to bring the characters alive and show their many different facets begins–as do so many things in Shakespeare–with a facility for handling the language and verse. Modern additions have ‘emended’ the structure so much that it becomes almost impossible for the very real conversational aspects of what’s written to surface with any regularity. For the strong sense of Ensemble to work, the characters must actually be talking to one another–and to the audience, a very real member, in the aggregate, of that Ensemble.

Enter the Folio.
Opportunities for direct audience audience involvement present themselves at a staggering rate in this play. Character is discovered and development happens when the actor’s (character’s) “secrets” are shared this way–facets of character are simultaneously revealed (in rehearsal and performance) to the actor and audience, which can then be ‘played’ for all they’re worth from then on, once the convention has been established. I’ve found that the act of ‘breaking the glass’ of ‘the fourth wall’ frees an actor and opens the door to a never-ending process of discovery that continues until closing night.

I’ve also found that audiences are particularly taken with this device, and are immediately willing to ‘play along’. Soliloquies grow wings when they’re delivered as I believe they were intended, by Shakespeare, to be delivered.
The practice, observed from the beginning, can establish a feeling that all of the actors are working together in a larger sense, to ‘present’ the play in a way that can only be termed ‘novel’ by today’s standards. It also sets up some very amusing circumstances later on, when it all comes together in the play within the play.

]]>